Thank you ZOS for putting an end to the Parsing Race and keeping the premise of the game!

Riptide

Mr_Stach wrote: »

A lot of people look at "Meta" as something you wear. It's not. It's a mindset. "I will do whatever is necessary to succeed" that's all the Meta is. Sometimes that's using a powerful set or playing a specific class. "Off-Meta" is just finding an alternative path to success. It's less effective, but possible. This patch is making the Off-Meta less effective. The Meta will always be established because it's a mindset.

Indeed, and it isn’t the toxic drama folks make it out to be. Rather when you spend multiple nights a week with 11 other people, who you grow to know and have affection for, you want, need to do the most you can to help the team.

You have other armory slots, other character slots etc for “thematic builds”, which most everyone has.

But when you lace up your cleats for game time you bring the best tools to the table you can find. You don’t wear RP gear and break out in Ren Fes m’lords and m’ladys for call outs, you get on point and you rock, as best you can, because you care about them.

And if some guilds put out gear and/or parse recommendations or requirements it isn’t because they have some sneering discrimination against more casual players but because they know that continuous wipes will ruin both your experience and 11 other people’s, and know what works.

Rather directly it is folks who carry a gigantic chip on their shoulder about all that and consider it a personal affront to be guided to what works that for that very reason are often uncoachable.

And it is all tangential anyway, because in the guise of trying to “fix” that they also made offmeta builds a lot weaker. And so folks who don’t have hangups about it will ultimately adapt a lot quicker and easier, while folks fixated on what zos says rather than what they do are going to be in for some disappointing realizations.

I mean long time raiders can take a break and quest, hiatus, whatever. Folks just getting into vet trials as their main fresh and shiny goal are in the end who the forums will be filled with in a few weeks. And it will be sad to see.

woe

NO class and set identity at all. You can pick any class, race and gear and it does the same ***. There are supposed to be reasons to pick one thing over the other, class abilities that stand out and sets that aren't homogeneous. It's getting so boring.